Britain is so Americanized. Their obsession with "Friends" ruined them.

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Miranda, the hit comedy starring Miranda Hart, attracted well over 9 million viewers on Boxing Day.

The huge figure, based on overnight data estimates from audience research company BARB, makes the sitcom the biggest TV hit of the festive period.

By contrast, other contemporary British comedies rarely top the 4m mark.

The show's 9.47m rating, which represents a 37% audience share, is even higher than the 9.37m figure achieved by the Christmas Day episode of EastEnders (normally the period's biggest ratings hit). Miranda also beat the much publicised Downtown Abbey special (6.83m), and other festive 'ratings bankers' such as Doctor Who (7.58m) and Strictly Come Dancing (7.76m). The programme also topped a special of hit drama Call The Midwife, with 7.27m viewers.

Having started life as a radio sitcom, Miranda is now on its third TV series. Having previously run on BBC Two, the comedy has now moved to BBC One, a move which appears to be paying big dividends. 9.47m is more than three times larger than the 2.84m that tuned into the first episode of the second series in November 2010.

Miranda wasn't the only comedy to perform well during Christmas. The two festive specials from Mrs Brown's Boys also attracted audiences in their millions. The Christmas Eve episode attracted 8.78m viewers, and the Boxing Day episode, following on from Miranda, picked up 9m viewers.

Elsewhere in the schedules, the TV adaptation of David Walliams's book Mr Stink pleased 6.3 million in its early-evening 6:30pm slot on the 23rd December; the new festive special of family comedy Outnumbered posted a ratings figure of 7.84m on Christmas Eve, and the Christmas Day episode of The Royle Family was watched by 7.68 million viewers according to the statistics.

A full summary of ratings is below.

The success of the new series of Miranda cements its creator Miranda Hart as one of the UK's top comedy stars. Hart's book Is It Just Me? was one of this year's best-sellers, and earlier in the month the star announced a stand-up show for 2014, which will take place in arena-sized venues.

The new series of Miranda continues on New Year's Day. A clip from the second episode is below. Subsequent episodes in the series will broadcast on Monday nights from 9pm, with new Mrs Brown's Boys at 9:30pm.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 36

01/17/2013

[quote]Miranda also beat the much publicised Downtown Abbey special

DOWNTON!!!

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 1

12/28/2012

For fuck's sake...what is the American obsession that the British were/are obsessed with 'Friends'? In saying that, 'Miranda' is absolute shit. 'Mrs Browns Boys' - 1970's humour at it's worst, as broad as my nan's bottom. 'Oh look! the gay man is wearing women's undies!' Utter crap.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 2

12/28/2012

Brits are still using laugh tracks in their comedy shows?

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 3

12/28/2012

sorry Huge Miranda hart fan here Love her and love her show thanks for the post was unaware she had a new season

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 4

12/28/2012

[quote]what is the American obsession that the British were/are obsessed with 'Friends'?

It was named Britain's most-beloved show, honey. Every show you watch (sans period), makes references to it. British celebs quote it all the time. Jennifer Aniston is HRH. Matt LeBlanc got a British television series. London put up a mock 'Friends' cafe. Any former cast member that is out of work could get a series written and produced for them at the drop of a hat.

Young Brits actually want to move to NYC because they think 'Friends' is realistic.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 5

12/28/2012

[quote]Brits are still using laugh tracks in their comedy shows?

They don't use laugh tracks. The studio shows are attended by live studio audiences.

My god, I love you!!! "Mrs. Brown's Boys" - Britain lost its frigging mind. I'm telling you, American television killed the Beeb. Brits watch more American imports than they're own shit. The Beeb is all about ratings. If you don't produce them right off the bat, you face the chopping block.

They got raked over the coals for putting forth Hollywood-style holding deals with their so-called 'talent.'

Catherine Tate, and Little Britain also ruined British comedy. One catchphrase repeated over, and over, and over again. Thank god Ricky Gervais ripped this concept a new one. It's all to sell merchandise.

The British Alternative Comedy circuit is dead and buried. I see edgier comedy in America. Unfortunately, little of that gets mainstream attention in the UK.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 7

12/28/2012

I watched the first season and thought it was so very bad. I believed that it was canceled after that. Imagine my surprise when I saw it mentioned somewhere else a couple of days ago being now in its third season or something.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 8

12/28/2012

UK TV comedy has certainly regressed, when it hasn't just given up. (Look at all the Seventies repeats in the Xmas schedules.)

Miranda is a safe schedule-filling family favourite, well on her way to the boring status of 'national treasure.'

'The Royle Family' Xmas special was over-long, crude and predictable. (Two important former characters were notably absent.)

That said, 'The Thick Of It', 'Rev', and (fitfully) 'Harry and Paul' are worthwhile. And at its best 'Have I Got News For You' is brilliantly sharp and funny.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 9

12/28/2012

Someone told me to watch Mrs Brown's Boys. I tried to watch a clip on youtube and I couldn't watch for more than a few minutes. Really stupid. Primitive stupid.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 10

12/28/2012

[quote]'The Royle Family' Xmas special was over-long, crude and predictable. (Two important former characters were notably absent.)[/quote]

I tried to watch that (someone had uploaded the series to YouTube) and I couldn't make it through the first episode. First of all, I couldn't understand what the hell they were saying, and it played more like a drama than a comedy series. I was interested in watching it 'cause in Britain it's considered one of the greatest sitcoms over there. But no...

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 11

12/28/2012

Gavin and Stacey is something that I don't get at all...emperor is naked perhaps? Can't stand James Corden and Matthew Horne. I blame Ricky Gervais for this vamping style of comedy that replaces actual acting.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 12

12/28/2012

This is typical daft British comedy. The reason you Americans can't understand why it's so popular in the UK is precisely because it's not "Americanised" and is indeed very, very British.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 13

12/28/2012

Miranda is like the British version of Girls.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 14

12/28/2012

I rarely visit Datalounge any more... but I see the British /Friends obsessed anti-Brit troll is still around. I've always found you quite unhinged and slightly bizarre, OP.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 15

12/28/2012

I bet Charlotte, Samantha & Carrie were happy for her.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 16

12/28/2012

r12, I like Gavin and Stacy in a Vicar of Dibley/Jam and Jerusalem kind of way. To me Miranda is just silly and strange in a morbid kind of way where you watch a mentally retarded woman to act like she's a grown up acting like a school girl (it's hilarious when Jennifer Saunders' alter ego Eddie Munsoon is clinging on to her youth, but Miranda is like one knife, duct tape, and cable cord away of kidnapping people to force her to attend her kiddie tea parties). It's the kind of slapstick that in my opinion isn't in any way or form dignified for an adult woman. That being said I love 'Smack the Pony' for some reason.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 17

12/28/2012

I like Miranda. She's sweet and funny. The UK comics aren't afraid to be physically funny and go all out and make fools of themselves if need be for the part. It's on WETA-UK here in DC. She's as funny as most and she's not really ugly - she's just not, um, petite and they haven't completely overhauled her to make her look like an entirely new person with plastic surgery and 24/7 stylists like they did with Jennifer Aniston who by the way is not as funny as Miranda Hart.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 18

12/28/2012

Oh, I kind of like r5/anti Brit troll. It's such a fascinating glimpse into a freaky alternate world. Little touches like us being obsessed with Friends and a "Friends cafe" existing - they just make it! I mean, anyone can write a paranoid dystopian fantasy about a country becoming an Orwellian-esque Islamic state with no freedom of expression, but it's the little truly imaginative details like that that really make it fly. Quite extraordinary. Margaret Atwood could take tips.

Very sci-fi!

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 19

12/28/2012

Mrs Brown's Boys is Irish surely. The actor is a son of one of the TDs I believe. Then this could all be wrong as I've only seen snippets of the show in passing.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 20

12/28/2012

ok, I just watched some clips of Miranda on youtube

Who watches it and thinks it's funny?

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 21

12/28/2012

Ah yes, British humour, let's put a Monty Pyton song over the trailer for a scientific programme on BBC2 and produce one of the best trailers ever. British humour at it's best.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 22

12/28/2012

R22 that wasn't intended to be funny in any way shape or form. It was just a fitting song for the trailer. Prof. Brian cox is excellent though. I assume you were saying that some of the old Monty Python stuff was funny. I suppose it was but not to my taste.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 23

12/28/2012

R23 Here. Excuse the missing comma.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 24

12/28/2012

American here. I enjoy watching Miranda because it doesn't require a lot of effort to watch. She's in the style of that slapstick/pratfall comedy like Lucille Ball or the Three Stooges. But I can understand how a person may not like that if they like a quieter type of comedy.

I don't understand the British interest in Friends, other than maybe because Helen Baxendale was a recurring character. Maybe one of the Brits can explain why Friends is so exciting.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 25

12/28/2012

[quote]This is typical daft British comedy. The reason you Americans can't understand why it's so popular in the UK is precisely because it's not "Americanised" and is indeed very, very British.

Honey, we grew up with the Alternative Comedy circuit. Miranda, and most Brit comedies today, are so embarrassing. If you think this is the height of British comedy, you must be 14 years old.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 26

12/28/2012

[quote]She's in the style of that slapstick/pratfall comedy like Lucille Ball or the Three Stooges.

She fails at slapstick comedy. She's not Jennifer Saunders or Rowan Atkinson. She has absolutely no talent.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 27

12/28/2012

R26, I don't think it's the height of British comedy and never said that, what I poiinted out is that it's typical British (as opposed to American) comedy. Alternative comedy was precisely that - alternative, it wasn't the mainstream. It was successful on TV for a while and French and Saunders are it's biggest product. Hart, however, is simply continuing the pre-1980s British mainstream comedy tradition, which has always been perfectly suited to Christmas television specials.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 28

12/28/2012

Friends isn't particular huge in Britain. It was when it was on the air, but not more so than in the US. The anti-Brit troll is just deranged.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 29

12/28/2012

[quote] The huge figure, based on overnight data estimate

Omg, when I read "The huge figure," I thought they were referring to Hart.

They broadcast this show on my PBS station and I couldn't believe it. Of all the television in all the world, this is what they picked to show over here? Ugh. "Such fun!," is the "Mel, eat my grits," of the show.

I have actually had a nightmare about Miranda Hart. I wouldn't mind if she were ugly and funny, but ugly and insufferable just don't cut it. I suppose Brits miss their upper classes every once in a while and that's why a Miranda Hart skips in every once in a while. She makes Call the Midwife a chore to watch.

This reminds me ... why is blurting out " bottom" considered so funny on British tv? Don't get me wrong -- I'm not under the impression that US tv doesn't have equally inexplicably unfunny interludes. It's just that saying "bottom" seems to be a magic word for uproarious laughter. And "knickers" gets a real laugh, too. Saying "underwear" just doesn't get the same reaction in the US. Though probably saying "boobies" would make an American audience laugh.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 33

01/17/2013

She seems to team up with another non-favorite of mine, David Walliams, a lot. I guess she's a close body morph to Matt Lucas.

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 34

01/17/2013

I think R25 has hit the nail on the head. My partner hates anything he has to actually watch. He likes his TV to be one step above white noise. And, he loves Miranda. He falls asleep through, As Time Goes By, After You've Gone, Pie in the Sky, Dinnerladies, etc. I don't think that he lasts more than a few seconds through Vera.

What do you all think of "Let then Eat Cake"?

by So British, I Shit The Queen

reply 35

01/17/2013

[quote]Friends isn't particular huge in Britain. It was when it was on the air

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